Media Tycoon Says Russia Fears Free Press

MOSCOW—Russian media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky said in a
handwritten note from jail Thursday that his arrest was the work of a
government that feared press freedom and was moving toward
dictatorship.

“This is political intrigue, organized by high-ranking
representatives of the government who consider freedom of speech a
danger,” Gusinsky said in the statement.

The officials look on a free news media as “an obstacle to
building a new Russia as they see it, which in effect means a return
to the totalitarian past, complete with gulags,” he said,
referring to the Soviet-era system of brutal labor camps that were
filled with political prisoners as well as convicted criminals.

He did not name any officials.

The statement was read by Gusinsky's attorney Genri Reznik in
front of the Butyrskaya jail, where Gusinsky has been held since his
arrest Tuesday. It did not address the question of whether President
Vladimir Putin knew about the arrest plans in advance.

Prosecutors said Gusinsky is suspected of taking part in the theft of
$10 million in state funds in a privatization deal. He has not been
formally charged, but prosecutors promised to do so within 10 days.

“During the first interrogation, I witnessed a laughable scene
with two investigators quarreling and interrupting one another for
half an hour as they tried to say what they suspect me of,” he
said. “I could only call that an absurdity.”

Gusinsky's lawyer Reznik referred to official statements accusing
Gusinsky as “delirium” and said that the defense had filed
an appeal in a Moscow court seeking his release. A hearing was
scheduled for Tuesday.

Reznik urged Putin to fire Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov for
“trampling the law.” Ustinov has refused to discuss the
case with the news media.

Reznik said that confinement in a hot and cramped cell was bad for
Gusinsky's health, which he described as not very strong. Justice
Ministry officials said Gusinsky was allowed to have a television and
a refrigerator.

Gusinsky heads the Media-Most company, whose news organizations have
been critical of the Kremlin.

The arrest has been widely seen in Russia as the Kremlin's attempt
to stifle criticism, and it has put Putin under fire during his trip
to Spain and Germany.

Asked by journalists why one of Russia's most prominent business
and media leaders had been put behind bars, Putin said in Spain that
he hadn’t known about the decision to arrest Gusinsky and
promised to look into the case when he returns to Russia.

“The people who are carrying out the investigation don’t
know the law,” said Pavel Astakhov, another Gusinsky
lawyer. “Instead of encouraging business activities, they hamper
it, they put in a jail a person who has created the largest private
media holding.”

Russian newspapers continued to assail the arrest Thursday.

“If the authorities continue to behave like an elephant in a
china shop, nothing will be left of Putin's positive image
abroad,” said the popular daily Moskovsky Komsomolets.

The newspaper scoffed at Putin's claim that he had been unaware of
plans to arrest Gusinsky.

“If they throw one of the most famous men in Russia behind bars
… it means the president is weak and not in charge,” the
paper said. And if Putin knew and approved ahead of time, the paper
said, “that means he is the main persecutor of dissent.”